What Is Auto Shop Coaching?

Posted on 9/22/2018

Auto Repair Business Coaching is a process used to take an Auto Repair business from where it is now to where the business owner wants it to be. A business coach will assist and guide the business owner in growing their business by helping them clarify the vision of their business and how it fits in with their personal goals. Fitting the business vision in with the business owner’s personal goals is a step that is often missed by most business coaches, who often only focus on the business goals.

A great auto repair business owner seeks to understand why reaching business growth goals is important to them personally, and the impact it will have on their life. After all, the business owner ultimately determines the speed and passion in which the goal is met (if ever), and if it is not linked to the business owner’s personal dreams, goals and plans for themselves, there is no burning reason why getting to that business goal is critical.

After clarifying where the auto repair shop business owner would like to take their business, AutoFix will help strategize and prioritize what goals and strategies are needed to help progress the business closer to its goal. Chris will meet with the business owner regularly, either weekly or monthly, to keep them on track to the commitments made during the past coaching session.

A critical component of business coaching is accountability. You will never see a football coach run laps of the field for their team. The very same fact is true of a business coach. A business coach is not a consultant. They will not do the work for you in your business. They are there to keep you focused on the end result and remind you why it is important. They will motivate you to keep your commitments. They will act as a sounding board and when needed hold a mirror in front of you, highlighting your business and personal blind spots.

Confidence in business is invaluable. Being supported by a great coach and giving yourself the space to work out challenges enhances your confidence when going into major situations, dealing with crises, or handling conflict. As a business owner your time is incredibly valuable. A coach can help you make the best of it.

Business coaching typically includes exercises around personality and leadership style, and empowers you to better understand yourself. Along the way though, you’ll be introduced to many different personality types and leadership characteristics, so business coaching is a great way to better hone how to work with diverse types of people, too.

Sometimes, when you are too close to something, you can develop blind spots. A good business coach will have an objective point of view, and the ability to quickly identify problem areas that maybe you could not see. They may also be able to offer solutions or strategies you might not have considered, or push you out of your comfort zone so you can take your business to the next level.

There are things we don’t know we don’t know.” A coach provides another set of eyes that can draw on experiences with other clients in order to reveal and mitigate blind spots in your business.

A business coach asks great questions that challenge you to think critically about your business. When you have a coach from a different industry, they bring a new perspective and ask higher level questions. This is especially helpful after you have been working on your startup for a couple of years and get caught up in the daily grind

Feel like you’re constantly stressing about a million different problems? Coaches are great at helping you triage these issues and decide which challenges are worth fighting today and which ones are not worth worrying about until later

Often more important than money, employees want to feel progress towards a goal and growth within an organization. By making business coaching available to all of our employees, we sent the message that we want to empower them to grow their leadership skills, and that there is no ceiling within the organization. Employee retention has made the coaching well worth the price tag.

It is extremely difficult to plan out a budget when your head is wrapped around your business plan, marketing plan, potential growth, and so much more. A business coach is experienced in working with companies large and small to help them plan their finances in a smart and beneficial manner. They have seen the good and the bad and can help to make the best financial decisions for your company.

As an entrepreneur, there’s a strong temptation at the beginning to do everything yourself. A business coach can help you target your weaknesses and help you make sure the hires you make are the right solution to compensate. Then, they’ll encourage you to focus on your strengths so that your business operates efficiently. A business coach is a huge asset in building a great business team

After all, you’ll never really know what you’re capable of until there’s someone to push you outside your comfort zone. Just ask any professional athlete. If a business coach is something you’ve thought about recently but aren’t quite sold on getting one yet, here are four reasons why you should:

1. To brainstorm brilliance

There’s a common saying that goes, “nobody is smarter than all of us.” In other words, the collective power of many is far superior to the single power of one, which speaks to the value a coach brings in brainstorming new ideas. However, doing so is both an art and a science.

Anybody can go online and find brainstorming software for free with the goal to generate genius -- that’s the science part. The “art” part, however, is excavating personal values and beliefs that you never knew existed and linking them to your desires and intentions. Sometimes it takes a new perspective to see an existing connection.

2. To bounce ideas

Nowhere else do you find somebody solely dedicated to acting as your own personal sounding board. A coach -- well, a good coach -- pushes out all thoughts from his or her own brain to be present and just listen. Doing so allows the coach to ask powerful questions that unearths deeply rooted values otherwise firmly planted.

The best part about this is the amount of judgment that the coach offers: zero. Unlike the local rumor mill in your neighborhood or office, it’s not a coach’s responsibility to opine about your position, but rather to suspend judgment in such a way that guides you toward your own goals.

3. To be accountable

Isn't it strange how easy it is to break the promises we make to ourselves, but less so when we involve other people? A coach serves as an accountability partner who challenges you to strategize and develop your goals while aligning your efforts toward achieving them.

4. To receive guidance

A business coach will challenge your thinking, goals and willingness to grow. As somebody who has “been there, done that,” a coach also acts as a role model because of the experience that he or she shares. Additionally, a coach has unique insight that broadens your business awareness.

Think of it this way: When Santa Claus brings you a new toy, you get excited at the thought of playing with it but maybe a little disheartened at the thought of having to assemble all those ridiculously tiny pieces. So what do you need? Directions. You need guidance for how to get from where you are to where you want to be, and once you do, you play with the toy all morning.

The key metric for success from coaching isn’t so much the cool technical tools you learn -- those will become obsolete in roughly 18 months. The value of coaching resides in the mental tools the coachee learns that help him or her navigate toward success both inside and outside of the business world.

Every athlete and every top performer uses a coach to bring out their best. Why don’t you?